Craftsman Cultivator

The two of them were strangers, after all. Besides, cultivators' appearances often didn't match their ages. There was never any shortage of people who had taken Youth-Preserving Pills and whose bodies would never grow any older. If he acted too eager, Chen Qing might mistake him for an old geezer with a child's face and some strange Cao-family fetish, plotting something untoward. That would be disastrous.

Thus, Chen Ganliu didn't say much more. After exchanging a few polite words with Chen Qing, he turned and left.

He was now somewhat familiar with this Immortal Market. He didn't go far, merely choosing a spot, setting up a stall, and beginning to sell low-grade talismans.

Talismans were commonly used by cultivators. Although almost everyone knew how to draw them, producing them in large quantities was extremely time-consuming. Many cultivators would rather purchase talismans and use the time they saved for cultivation.

The talisman business had an even lower barrier to entry than Chen Qing's low-grade magic artifact business, and its profits were even thinner. Only cultivators who were desperately poor would sell talismans, exchanging their cultivation time for a meager income.

Chen Ganliu had decades of rich experience as an "extremely poor cultivator," so selling talismans came to him with practiced ease.

His stall had been open for less than half a day when he unexpectedly encountered a major buyer, who purchased all the talismans he had accumulated along the way, leaving him with one hundred and twelve Talisman Coins.

Well, Chen Ganliu had worked hard for nearly a month, yet the talismans he had accumulated still weren't enough to buy a piece of low-quality raw ore. And that was the wholesale price; buying a single piece would cost a little more.

As dusk approached, some of the cultivators in the Immortal Market departed on Escape Lights. Others employed wondrous Daoist arts: some hung a gourd from a tree branch and leaped inside, some swept their sleeves and raised a refined chamber before pushing open the door and entering, while others formed a hand seal and vanished without a trace in an instant.

Every one of these spells made Chen Ganliu envious. He hated that he didn't know any of them, and that his cultivation was insufficient as well.

He casually found a large tree, leaned against it, and meditated through the night.

The next day, when the sky first began to brighten, Chen Ganliu went to a nearby mortal village and town to buy knives, axes, and other tools.

It wasn't convenient to chop and carve things inside the Immortal Market, so Chen Ganliu chose seven or eight large trees of middling thickness outside the market. He activated the Azure Emperor Jia Yi Art, channeled True Qi into the axe blade, and chopped them down. He then dragged them back to the Suiyang Immortal Market, chose an empty plot with a tree on either side, planted his rough wooden staff, and transformed it into a wooden house.

To live in a residence created through illusion arts, it had to at least be able to shelter one from wind and rain. Better still, it needed the wondrous functions of being warm in winter and cool in summer. Qi Refining Realm cultivation was nowhere near enough for that.

Chen Ganliu used illusion arts to transform the residence not because he intended to live in it, but because he wanted to make a model. After adjusting the illusion several times, he finally found a style he was satisfied with and began constructing the wooden house.

This wooden house had to serve not only as a residence but also as a talisman shop, so it was divided into two floors. The lower floor deliberately had only three walls, leaving one side open for customers to enter and exit and for goods to be displayed. The upper floor was a place to meditate and rest, with illusion arts added to keep out snakes and insects. All he wanted was comfort and ventilation.

Chen Ganliu had cultivation, after all, and in his previous previous life, he had been a construction worker to the core. This was his own professional field.

The wooden house had a simple structure. In just one day, the two-story house rose from the ground. The trees on either side were thick with leaves, providing shade from the blazing sun, while beneath their canopies lingered a faint coolness.

He was pondering how to arrange the goods. After all, for the time being he could only sell talismans, when he heard an old Daoist say with a laugh, "Young friend, this wooden house of yours is quite nice."

Chen Ganliu hurried out to greet him and said, "Merely a trifling skill. I hardly deserve Senior's praise."

The old Daoist was from the Jade Mountain Sect. His Daoist title was Wu Chang, and he had left his sect long ago. He was a sixth-level Qi Refining cultivator who had spent many years in the Suiyang Immortal Market, engaging in the same magic artifact business as Chen Qing.

However, the magic artifacts he sold were all fine goods, with each one starting at more than a thousand Talisman Coins. In terms of pure profit, he surpassed Chen Qing by dozens of times. He had quite a good reputation in the Immortal Market and could be considered an "old hand at business." He was even vaguely the Jade Mountain Sect's representative in the market.

Daoist Wu Chang had long wanted to find a residence to his liking, but ordinary craftsmen's work was crude and uncomfortable to live in, while a refined chamber of magic-artifact grade was truly too expensive. He had never been able to get his wish.

The old Daoist had noticed Chen Ganliu when he began working. The wooden house's design was ingenious, and once it was finished, he eagerly came over to strike up a conversation.

The old Daoist laughed. "Last night, I saw that the wooden house you newly built was elegant and attractive. I've stayed here for many years, and I, too, would like a place to live and put down roots. So I wanted to ask, young friend, would you be willing to build one for me as well?"

"I certainly won't let you labor for nothing. I'll naturally provide compensation."

Chen Ganliu hesitated for a long while and thought, If I build a residence by myself, I'll also have to cut the wood. Going back and forth will take a long time and delay my proper cultivation. But this wooden house is merely a mortal object, so I'd feel awkward charging much for it.

Still, if I take this job, even if I don't earn many Talisman Coins, I can befriend a cultivator and gain a connection in the Suiyang Immortal Market.

After thinking it over, he smiled and said, "It's only a wooden house, nothing worth much money. Just give me some Talisman Coins as you see fit. I won't quibble over the amount."

The old Daoist chuckled. "Several years ago, I engaged in Magical Combat with practitioners of unorthodox paths and obtained some magic artifacts from them. I've sold them off one after another, but there's one Beast Skin Pouch for storage that I've never managed to sell. How about I use this item as payment?"

Chen Ganliu was shocked. He exclaimed, "That item is precious!"

The old Daoist laughed. "It can't really be considered precious. The inside is only about the size of three or four rooms, and it's ugly besides. Its refining method isn't particularly sophisticated either. I've tried to sell it several times, but no one was willing to take it."

A storage treasure was simply too precious. Even the lowest-grade one cost several thousand Talisman Coins, while a slightly better Storage Magic Treasure was priced in spirit stones.

In his previous life, Chen Ganliu had always wanted to buy one, but even by the time he died, he hadn't saved enough spare Talisman Coins. His expression immediately betrayed his interest.

Seeing that Chen Ganliu seemed inclined to agree, the old Daoist cheerfully handed over a Beast Skin Pouch and said, "I've already chosen a location. Why don't you come take a look with me?"

Chen Ganliu accepted the Beast Skin Pouch, and his heart settled slightly. He followed Daoist Wu Chang to the plot he had chosen. Using the illusion arts attached to the rough wooden staff, he displayed more than ten types of floor plans, and the old Daoist readily settled on a structural design.

After all, helping someone build a residence was grueling labor. Chen Ganliu had already been busy for a day and was rather tired, so he agreed with Daoist Wu Chang to begin work the next day.

Chen Ganliu returned to his own residence and rubbed the Beast Skin Pouch given to him by Daoist Wu Chang. His heart warmed as he thought, I thought I would have to toil for nothing this time. Who would have guessed that Daoist Wu Chang would be so generous? If I can take on a few more construction jobs like this, saving enough capital to buy Green Jade Stone within two or three years will no longer be an unattainable dream.

He couldn't resist activating his Azure Emperor Jia Yi True Qi.

The True Qi poured into the Beast Skin Pouch with the force of a breaking bamboo, meeting no resistance. He knew that the old Daoist must have erased the original owner's magical imprint in preparation for selling it, allowing him to easily refine this storage magic artifact.

The Beast Skin Pouch was indeed, as Daoist Wu Chang had said, about the size of three or four rooms inside.

This item had originally not been made for storage, but for Magical Combat, which was why it still contained some miscellaneous qi.

However, all its powerful spell restrictions had been broken, leaving only the small storage cosmos technique largely intact. Because the miscellaneous qi was too heavy, storing things like metal and stones that were not easily damaged was fine, but storing Spirit Medicine and the like would diminish their medicinal efficacy. This was probably why Daoist Wu Chang had been unable to sell it.

Once midnight passed, it was Monday, and the New Book Ranking changed...

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